“Sunglasses At Night” by Corey Hart

Corey Hart was a Canadian newcomer when "Sunglasses at Night" arrived in November 1983 as the opening shot from his debut album, First Offense, and the title grew out of a studio nuisance. According to co-producer Phil Chapman, the room where they cut the album had heating and air-conditioning vents over the mixing desk, blasting air into the faces of whoever sat at the board, so the crew took to wearing shades indoors, and Hart, working on a new song, started improvising lyrics around the habit.

What came out is new wave with a cold stare: a relentless synth hook and arpeggio, rock guitar and cryptic words. Hart wrote it alone and plays keyboards with Chapman and Ritchie Close, with Jon Astley, Andy Barnett and Andy MacPherson on guitars, Gary Tibbs on bass, Paul Burgess on drums and Andrew Kevin Hamilton on saxophones.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.